Yellow Submarine

Keeping motivated in a slow market is difficult to say the least. Any realtor knows that the housing market is a bit like the stock market. It has its ups and downs but for the most part it is a good investment.

One of my big bug-a-boos when it comes to news about the stock market is when it takes a plummet, you hear that so-in-so lost a million dollars last week. Well, so-in-so did not lose anything. You can only lose something if you actually are in possesion of it. Stock, unlike houses, is a paper commodity. On paper, your stock is worth a lot but unless you sell high all you have is a piece of paper.

Houses, on the other hand are real. I guess that's why they call it real estate. A house is the biggest investment that the majority of Americans make. (Don't let the pundits tell you that the majority of Americans own stock. Poppy cock! Whatever stock they own is probably tied up in a 401K in which they may or may not ever get fully vested. Fully vested means that after a period of time, the money that their employer has "matched" actually becomes theirs. In the mean time it belongs to their employer.)

With that said, your home is your biggest investment. So when the housing market drops it hurts. It hurts you, it hurts the bank, it hurts inspectors, it hurts any company that has anything to do with real estate and that is a lot. Therefore, keeping your home is very important as I have written about in a previous posting.

I am not a big listing realtor. It used to bother me but these days it is a blessing. It is hard to explain to your client why their home is not selling. Even if you go through the blah blah of the housing market it doesn't do them any good; their house still hasn't sold.

I have 1 1/2 listings right now. One is all mine; the "half" is a co-listing - the home is listed by both myself and another realtor in the office. (Co-listing is a strange critter. Why co-list when it means you have to split your commission with someone else? It works both ways. The seller gets 2 for the price of one which hopefully means better service and communication. The agents benefit because one may be able to actually get more listings but the other may have more time to service them. In my case of the "half" listing, I had made the initial contact, did the comparative market analysis, made the presentation, and discussed with the homeowner all the things that needed to be done to make the home look its best. Then the owner called a co-worker to list the home. My good co-worker was gracious enough to include me; for that I am very grateful.)

In short (okay, when I start writing, keeping it short is a struggle), motivation is key. Many aspects hang on many factors. Helping your clients through a difficult market is part of the job but the other part of the job is helping to keep the other agents in your office motivated, too. When I first got started in real estate I would get really discouraged; it is hard to make your presence known. But I had people behind me saying, "Hang in there! You can do it!" And I did.

So right now, I am helping to put together a motivational program. Nothing so cheesy as those dips you see on TV. This will be fun as it is built around a luau theme. (Okay, cheesy is a relative concept). Why help your potential rivals? Because when the tide rises, all the boats rise with it. And when the tide falls, all the boats fall, too. We all live in a........